…Is what a Hospital VP of Accounts Receivable said to me when I called to discuss a reference-based pricing (RBP) claim that was referred to The Phia Group for handling. Upon review, the health plan had issued a reasonable percentage above Medicare on a large claim, and this was perfectly in line with the Plan Document’s language. In fact, payment for this episode of care was subject to a percentage above a particularly high Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) pricing, so the payment greatly exceeded the average commercial insurance reimbursement at this facility.

You see, hospitals report their complete financial information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This publicly-available information is submitted in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and verified by the hospital to be accurate. At The Phia Group, we use Medicare payment rates along with this data to assess the fair market value of services (what payors actually pay).

Back to my story. I would have understood had the Hospital VP said “I am sorry, Jason, but I have a policy that requires me to balance-bill the member,” or “We can’t write off the balance but let’s explore ways to close this account together,” or anything like that. I get it – there are always policies to follow. But to say “It will be my pleasure to balance bill the patient 1.3 million…” Come on.

There is a lot of rhetoric out there about no one being happy with “the way things are” and how everyone wants to “do the right thing” as the market changes, but I don’t believe that. I routinely see the ugliness of corporations gorging themselves on unreasonable reimbursements at the threat of destroying patients’ credit scores. Patient credit is the ransom in exchange for payment of ridiculously high charges. Thankfully, this generally proves to be the exception, as I deal with reasonable and helpful providers all the time; to those valued and reasonable healthcare providers: I salute you.

This particular interaction really shook me, and it stands as a stark reminder of the issues we need to address in achieving transparency and affordability in healthcare.